So an hour before kick off the last thing we needed was to have two props and a second rower AWOL.
After begging, borrowing and stealing we managed to kick off with 15 men and what followed was a game won due to fantastic Combe commitment, a great team effort and some top individual performances. Due to a bit of jet lag my order of events may well be slightly askew but should hopefully be generally reliable.
After an early try by Bromley, the first half was all Combe. The forwards put in a storming performance in the scrum and in open play against a well drilled Bromley pack who had been training together for weeks. When the ball came out to the backs they found bromleys defensive line a mere inconvenience and time after time broke through weak tackles. Tries were scored by Ross McEwen, Garry O Dwyer and Si Campbell. The pressure also led to penalties which were converted by Tom Gilder along with the conversions. Before the game Tom had made the statement after a few practice kicks of "Chris, anything in their half today" He was not wrong. We should have scored more but took our foot off the gas towards the end of the half and due only to a splendid defensive effort managed to keep bromley from scoring again. The first half finished Combe 27 - Brom 7.
The second half started with Ross going over again and Tom converting, but this is where it began to go wrong. With the hill against us and a few unforced errors Bromley came back at us. Chris Bright suffered a cut to his lip and according to him it was potentially life changing and may need plastic surgery. After four hours at the hospital the highly qualified and experienced doctors disagreed with Brightys prognosis and decided that he didn't even need stiches. He was sent home with some cotton wool and a sticker saying he had been a good boy. Meanwhile an injured Dave Stevens (flanker) came on to cover our vacant wing position and Bromley continued piling on the pressure. Despite desperate tackling Bromley began to get tries and eventually brought the score to 31 - 34 with 15 minutes to go. A great commitment and defensive effort by Combe meant that the scoreline stayed like this and we won what was a thoroughly enjoyable game.

This win was down to a fantastic Combe team performance and every person playing deserves recognition for beating a good Bromley side at their home. I have however to mention the following individuals.

-Anthony Creed, Billy Bignall and John Instrell. These three stepped in at the last minute to fill our gaps in the front and second row. Without them we would have had to forfeit the game, they all had excellent games. Cheers guys.

-A great last minute tackle by Pacey making their man knock the ball on over the try line.

-Loz Morgan for playing out of postion at 9 and putting in a good shift.

-Josh Maybank. Very hard to pick a man of the match performance as everyone deserved it. Josh gets it as he was a constant pain to Bromley and put in some great tackles time and again preventing Bromley from building any kind of momentum at points in their game.

Based on this performance I am looking forward to what is going to be an enjoyable and hopefully successful season. - Chris Fuller